Practitioners deconstructing and reconstructing practices when responding to the implementation of BIM

Kokkonen, A and Alin, P (2016) Practitioners deconstructing and reconstructing practices when responding to the implementation of BIM. Construction Management and Economics, 34(7-8), pp. 578-591. ISSN 01446193

Abstract

When managers are implementing change, practitioners are sometimes seen as the receivers of the change. However, practitioners often need to actively create the changes to daily practices because managers might not be familiar with the practices. Building information modelling (BIM), an important driver of organizational change, requires change not only by bringing new technology into use but also to the practices of collaboration between different professions. In their daily work, practitioners can create new practices through reflective learning. We have a limited understanding of how practitioners are actively involved in a change through reflective learning when implementing BIM. To address this limitation, we conducted a qualitative case study. Our primary data consist of interviews, which were analysed with insights from philosophy. We identified two methods of reflective learning from the data: deconstruction and reconstruction. Deconstruction occurs when the new requirements for the practices are based on different ideas of work, which asks practitioners to change their old ideas before creating new practices. Reconstruction does not necessarily require changes to the basic ideas of work but changes are seen more as improvements. Our research contributes to construction management literature by linking the reflective learning of practitioners to the change caused by BIM.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: building information modelling; change; learning; practitioner; reflect
Index terms: interview, organizational change, philosophy, reconstruction, collaboration, new technology, profession, case study, manager, practitioner, implementation, building information modelling
Subjects: contractual arrangements, information systems, management, philosophical studies, innovation and technology management, building construction, business, institututions, practitioner, data collection methods
Topics: Engineering Principles, Organizational Design, Research Practice, Digital Applications, Roles and Professions, Procurement
Descriptive scope: 4 PCTE

N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here